The First Palm Sunday

Matthew 21:1-11, 15-16

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Matthew. Matthew was one of the special helpers of Jesus.

Our story is about a special day we call Palm Sunday. It started in a town called Jerusalem. But before it was Palm Sunday, it was like any other Sunday. The people in Jerusalem were all going about their normal day until someone said, "Hey! Jesus is coming!"


That changed everything. They were so excited! The people had heard about Jesus and that He could do anything. They heard that Jesus could make a storm stop by just saying, "Stop!" They heard that Jesus could make sick people all better. They heard that Jesus could feed A LOT of people with only a little bit of food. Jesus is so special! And if He was coming to town, then the people needed to do something special to celebrate Him.


Do you know what they did? The people cut palm branches from trees and laid them on the road. Other people took their coats off and laid them on the road. The palm branches and coats made a special road for the donkey that Jesus was riding on.


And then...they saw Jesus! They were so excited to see Jesus that they began waving palm branches in the air and shouting, "Hosanna! Hosanna! Yay, Jesus!"


The people were celebrating Jesus because they knew He was special. And we still celebrate Jesus every year on Palm Sunday because Jesus is alive and He wants to be our friend forever!



Bible Paraphrase: “I am alive for ever and ever!” – Revelation 1:18, NIV

Text Truth: We celebrate Jesus because He is special.



Family Devotional

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
– Matthew 21:1-11

Our Bible story was about the very first Palm Sunday. People got so excited when they heard Jesus was coming that they quickly cut some palm branches from trees and began waving them in the air! Some people took off their coats and spread them on the road for Jesus to walk on. Everyone wanted to celebrate Jesus because He is so special! We still celebrate how special Jesus is because...Jesus is alive!

“I am alive for ever and ever!” – Revelation 1:18, NIV

The people in our story showed Jesus He is special by waving branches in the air and putting coats on the road. What are some ways you can show Jesus He is special? With your family, make a list of ways you can show Jesus He is special. Maybe it’s telling Jesus you love Him, singing Him a song, or drawing Him a picture. There are lots of ways you can show Jesus you think He is super special!

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, ask God to help you remember Jesus is alive and you can celebrate Him every day. Acknowledge that you want to show Jesus how special He is by doing things like (ready through your family's list). Thank God for His love and acknowledge to God your love for him.

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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